Attendances

[Husky]

2 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

Not selling well by the looks of it. As said before, Rovers fans don’t do cup ties (unless it’s Liverpool).

Newcastle aren't really a glory hunter team as they have only won one trophy since man walked on 2 legs. And most Glory hunters think Intertoto is some kind of ancient blow football game.

[Stuart]

55 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Not at all. I’m just explaining why they don’t work as well as they do at other clubs for run of the mill games.

There’s loads of slack between a season ticket average price of around £350 and an average match ticket of £25  (£25 x 23 = £575), so they could offer a load of stuff and it would still be better value for a season ticket - which is an excuse chief execs hide behind to offer nowt.

I have banged the drum over and over again on how picking the right game could work a treat - West Brom on NYD would have been a fantastic opportunity for £10 to £15 anywhere in the ground, we’d have sold plenty more, so would WBA and we’d have had a cracking bank holiday crowd and atmosphere. Something to attract folk back with.

Then I’d have contacted every buyer offering half season tickets with that game discounted off the price.

I’d be doing it again in the run in, with a season ticket pack with every purchase - as we’d actually have them on sale early like every other club.

Not guilty m’lord as I’m up for anything and everything to get the crowds up, but we do need to be realistic, the team must improve too as we won’t be seeing 20,000 crowds every week when mid table in the second tier even if we offer £199 season tickets or whatever else.

I agree completely with this but it’s something Waggott won’t do. So what else?

[Mattyblue]

For me it’s about knowing the fanbase. For decades, the vast majority of our support in the ground is from season ticket holders. 

Our average crowd waxes and wanes directy in correlation to the increase or decrease in season ticket sales that summer.

So, it is that package that needs to be looked at. For a start, there must not be any more increases, or we’ll start to lose the slight increase we’ve seen, never mind increasing it still further. I would introduce a young person season ticket, a demographic that often falls off a cliff once they get too old for a kid ticket and see the adult price. I’d look to create a proper singing section. We need some proper marketing to potential new and lapsed purchasers, because it seems pretty non existent to me, just an expectation that the usual 8-10,000 will renew.

End of the day we are thrashing around in the dark without knowing what Waggott WILL DO (FF?) , but increasing season ticket sales summer after summer is the only way crowds will rise consistently, if only incrementally at this level.

But, it isn’t done in isolation, the package on the pitch needs to help too, the best marketing vehicle there is.

[gumboots]

They did contact people who'd had season tickets in the past this summer. Thing is, once you no longer have a season ticket it's hard for some people to commit enough to getting value from it. 

[Tom]

I like the little video package the club put on their twitter about the replay tonight, I had decided to go to this one but can’t sort childcare so my dads going alone.

Really well done to the club though for the ticket prices I think it will have a really positive effect even if not nearly full 

[AshleyClifford]

Quote

If we can get past Newcastle, hopefully the same ticket arrangement will be in place for Watford. That will be the real test for very cheap tickets. To be honest the 2quid concession tickets there should be no excuses for a low crowd on Tuesday night. I recon will be near enough or just over 15,000 on.

 

[MCMC1875]

19 hours ago, JHRover said:

How different? Their average gates are similar to ours and have been in a similar or slightly higher ball park for the last few years. Admittedly ours boosted more than theirs by bigger away followings.

I accept that the take-up among home fans probably wouldn't be as high as that, particularly for a struggling side, but two struggling clubs in Ipswich and Notts County took the decision to significantly reduce admission (not a couple of quid off if bought in advance like we had v Norwich) and the evidence suggests the people respond to that. We don't go down that route instead carrying on with £25 admission and our crowds are static.

Only club in Suffolk.

[JHRover]

2 minutes ago, MCMC1875 said:

Only club in Suffolk.

That's true. I accept that they are likely to get bigger numbers than we would taking up the offer. That doesn't explain why we never offer those prices and see what happens to the crowd at Ewood.

 

[MCMC1875]

11 hours ago, Tom said:

I like the little video package the club put on their twitter about the replay tonight, I had decided to go to this one but can’t sort childcare so my dads going alone.

Really well done to the club though for the ticket prices I think it will have a really positive effect even if not nearly full 

Good lad John. Proper hardcore supporter.

[tomphil]

1 hour ago, MCMC1875 said:

Only club in Suffolk.

Remember the results of some survey a while ago when they were in the prem doing ok saying that about 25% of their season ticket holders came from Colchester or something. Like Norwich their town/city isn't huge but they've a hell of an area to pull from.

[Mattyblue]

Norfolk and Suffolk combined has the same population as Lancashire (modern boundaries).

It would be like us and Burnley having it to ourselves, instead of sharing it with 5 other league clubs, plus all the others on our doorstep in the the rest of ‘real’ Lancs.

[oldjamfan1]

48 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Norfolk and Suffolk combined has the same population as Lancashire (modern boundaries).

It would be like us and Burnley having it to ourselves, instead of sharing it with 5 other league clubs, plus all the others on our doorstep in the the rest of ‘real’ Lancs.

Blimey, that puts a bit of perspective on it!!

[Songman]

Looking at the amount of available seats online, I think I'd be doing away with the matchday price of £20 and leaving it at £10.

[JHRover]

33 minutes ago, Songman said:

Looking at the amount of available seats online, I think I'd be doing away with the matchday price of £20 and leaving it at £10.

About 8000 home tickets sold yesterday and I'm told Newcastle expecting about 2000 in the away end so will end up more or less a league crowd.

[philipl]

Pathetic Rovers turn out at £10 a ticket.

[JHRover]

Looks like sales have picked up significantly over the last couple of days but even so I suspect 15000 total is ambitious. To be honest if we get more than 10000 home fans on for a midweek cup replay it's more than I expected given our recent home gates in the competition.

I hope a smaller take up than Waggott expected doesn't put an end to 10 quid tickets. For me in this competition 10 quid per adult should be the regular price, not a one off.

I wonder if it would help if cup games were included in the season ticket package so all season ticket holders received a home match ticket for cup games as part of their deal.

[roversfan99]

Not on IMO for anyone not attending to have a go at attendances, regardless of circumstance.

[Mattyblue]

If there’s 11,000 home fans on for a midweek January cup match (3rd round at that), that’s a good effort for this club.

Weve had FA Cup quarter finals and League Cup Semi finals with considerably less.

[RevidgeBlue]

1 minute ago, Mattyblue said:

If there’s 11,000 home fans on for a midweek January cup match (3rd round at that), that’s a good effort for this club.

Weve had FA Cup quarter finals and League Cup Semi finals with considerably less.

Disagree. Whilst its possibly slightly more than if the tickets were "normal" price I think its still a very poor turn out.

Evidence imo that £10 tickets have no or negligible effect.

[Mattyblue]

Well they do as you could halve that 11,000 (if not more) if it was normally priced.

Edited January 15, 2019 by Mattyblue

[RevidgeBlue]

6 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Well they do as you could halve that 11,000 (if not more) if it was normally priced.

That's pure conjecture. No way to prove that one way or the other.

We'll see how many finally turn up. If it were to get to around 15k home fans tonight I'd tend to agree with you.

[Mattyblue]

Not conjecture, there’s cup tie after cup tie against standard PL opposition and even quarter and semi finals going back 15 years that proves it.

Edited January 15, 2019 by Mattyblue

[roversfan99]

If Waggott chose to spin any potential crowd tonight to be proof that lowering prices has little to no impact then that would be naive and foolish.

The main deterrent I would suspect is the fact that it is a night game, even some season ticket holders cannot attend, especially those with kids. Add to that the fact that its on TV and paint it how you want, those two are major factors in limiting the potential crowd.

Im looking forward to going down as per usual but I also appreciate that a freezing cold night against a second string Newcastle side isnt going to cause a sudden rise in sales.

[gumboots]

It's not going to be that cold tonight

[only2garners]

It's forecast to be 8 degrees tonight. Not shirtsleeve weather but it's really no reason not to be going. Saturday afternoon will be a lot colder.